There has been known a technique for applying an electron beam to a thin film sample by using a transmission electron microscope, detecting the electron beam which has passed through the thin film sample to acquire a plurality of electron images, and comparing contrast between the obtained electron images to observe the sample structure.
However, for example, even if the electron images are acquired over a crystal grain boundary, a contrast difference cannot be well observed in some cases. In such cases the technique of judging by the contrast of the transmission electron image causes problems in the identification of the crystal grain boundary and the measurement of a shape.